BMWU lobbies for action after BCL deaths
Onalenna Kelebeile | Tuesday March 3, 2015 10:45
Two miners lost their lives while four were treated for minor injuries in an accident in which the BCL mine’s preliminary internal investigations point to an explosion during drilling last week Tuesday. The incident brought to four the number of lives lost at the mine in a period of a year.
BMWU spokesperson and vice president Joseph Tsimako said the union is concerned about the escalating number of fatalities that continue to claim the lives of employees. “We initiated a meeting with BCL management in January to convey our displeasure regarding safety standards in the mine.
“We also wanted to get a clue about the actual causes of the accidents as well as the interventions so far to prevent similar occurrences in future,” he said.
Tsimako said among the observations are issues related to legal appointments of blasting license holders, operating procedures, issuance of protective clothing, excessively hot temperatures underground, continued engagement of fixed term contract of employees and no job training prior to assuming full responsibility.
He said during the same meeting the union conveyed its disappointment at the mine’s tendency to sideline the union on the outcome of accident investigations, as this denied all stakeholders an opportunity to brainstorm on mitigation of future occurrences.
“It is unfortunate that immediately after our presentation, management requested postponement of the meeting to have more time to investigate the accidents and report back to us.
“We also had a meeting with the Minister and the Director of Mines on the same issue and considered convening a meeting to discuss these issues further and possibly visit the mine to carry out joint inspection,” Tsimako said.
The unionist said it is very unfortunate that the last week accident happened while they were still in this process.
Meanwhile, BCL mine has expressed sympathy and condolences to the affected families. The mine’s public relations and marketing manager, James Molosankwe said in a statement that the mine is deeply concerned about the frequency of fatalities at its underground operations.
He said in a statement that they considered the incidents seriously especially since “BCL has been a safe mine and has recorded more than four million fatality free shifts between July 2010 and March 2013.
“The deceased were a machine man who was certified dead upon arrival at the hospital and a learner miner who died while receiving treatment at Bokamoso Hospital. The cause of the incident is not yet known though our preliminary internal investigations are pointing to an explosion during drilling at 870ML/3250 stope,” he indicated.
He further stated that underground activities at the area were immediately suspended and secured following the incident. The accident area remains closed while other operations have not been affected.
He further explained that the mine conducted an in-depth safety review and implemented a number of protocols following other similar occurrences to improve safety. One such tool, Molosankwe said, is Behavioural Based Care Model, through which a significant reduction of the mine’s lost time injury frequency rate was noticed.
“The incident shows that we still have work to do and we will continue to strive to reduce the potential for safety risks as well as reversing the recent trends. Once investigations are complete, we will implement any additional safety procedures recommended to prevent such incidents from recurring at any of our operations. Improving safety and reducing risks remains a top priority at BCL,” Molosankwe said.